John Hume

John Hume (18 January 1937-) was the leader of the Social Democratic and Labor Party of Ireland from 6 May 1979 to 6 November 2001, succeeding Gerry Fitt and preceding Mark Durkan.

Biography
John Hume was born in Derry, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland on 18 January 1937 to an Irish Catholic family; his great-great-grandfather was a Scottish Presbyterian. Hume originally intended to become a priest, but he became a civil rights activist during the late 1960s and founded the Derry Credit Union. In October 1971, he took part in hunger strikes protesting the internment without trial of hundreds of suspected Irish republicans, and he he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1973, becoming a founding member of the Social Democratic and Labor Party. He was involved with secret talks between Sinn Fein and the British government that led to a 1985 treaty that gave the Irish government an advisory role in the politics of Northern Ireland, and his work with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams led to a 1994 ceasefire between the UK and the Provisional IRA. In 1998, Hume and Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble won the Nobel Peace Prize, and Hume retired as SDLP leader in 2001 and from politics in 2004.